“Our new engines of prediction are able to make more accurate predictions and to make predictions in domains that we used to think were impervious to them because this new technology can handle far more data, constrained by fewer human expectations about how that data fits together, with more complex rules, more complex interdependencies, and more sensitivity to starting points.” But with that benefit, we need to give up on our belief in stories and the theory of mind, not to mention our reliance on always being able to uncover knowable laws. – Medium
Author: Douglas McLennan
Why Don’t Men Learn More Languages? It’s Not Masculine?
A study from Canada reveals undergraduates consider language learning to be a feminine pursuit, and that men with traditional beliefs about the proper roles of men and women report less interest in such study if their masculinity has been threatened. – Pacific Standard
Find Yourself Reading Novels Less? Maybe It’s The Way You’re Reading Them…
“John Gardner, the literary critic, wrote that the job of the novelist is to create a ‘vivid and continuous dream’ for the reader, but I’d somehow developed a case of readerly sleep apnea. I’d gotten into the habit of consuming novels so fitfully that I was all but sealed off from their pleasures. It was as if I’d been watching movies in a special buffering-only mode, or listening to music through the world’s balkiest Bluetooth headphones. This style of reading had, I realized, shunted me into a vicious circle.” – The New York Times
After 40 Years, NPR’s Morning Edition Gets New Musical Theme
The original theme – played in many versions since the program’s launch in 1979 was composed by BJ Leiderman. So why the update? The show’s current producers wanted to “freshen” the sound. “I wanted a sound and a mood and a tone and a feel and a vibe all mixed in one,” says executive producer Kenya Young. – The New York Times
Perhaps The World’s Biggest Theatre Empire? Cruise Ships
Consider: Royal Caribbean International’s cruise line directs 134 shows in 50 theatres on 26 ships around the world, including seven Broadway-originating shows, eight aqua shows, 18 ice shows and dozens of original musicals. It’s an audience of 100,000… every night. – Toronto Star
YouTube Viewership Is Exploding. Now It’s Making More Of Its Content Free
“Creators are driving record audiences to YouTube,” YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl told the presentation audience gathered at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan. “Two-hundred million people come to YouTube every single day just to watch gaming videos. That’s twice the audience of this year’s Super Bowl.” – Los Angeles Times
Growing Disparity: Mapping The “Brain Drain” Of US States
The end result is a lopsided “winner-take-all” pattern of regional haves and have-nots. Our politics become ever more divisive and polarized as the “big sort” grows ever bigger, eating away at the social fabric of our nation. – CityLab
Alex Ross: The Fascinating, Complicated, Difficult Legacy Of Furtwangler
“Could modern performers recapture Furtwängler’s elasticity of style? Most likely not. Scholars such as Robert Philip and Kenneth Hamilton have shownhow the advent of recording permanently changed the way music is played. Effects of rubato and portamento—bending the tempo, sliding from note to note—sounded messy when heard on disc, and they were already passing from fashion in the mid-twentieth century.” – The New Yorker
Tin Pan Alley Buildings Owner Doesn’t Want Landmark Status Because Of “Racist Songs”
The owner of five buildings on West 28th Street that comprise the core of the historic “Tin Pan Alley” is trying to block them from being landmarked by pointing to racist tunes emanating from the block a century ago. – New York Post
Canada’s Last Bricks And Mortar Classical Music Recordings Store Is Closing
“The store’s closing follows a similar move by Vancouver’s venerable Sikora’s, a dedicated classical music store in West Hastings that shuttered in February 28, 2019 after four decades in business. While Grigorian’s has not provided details behind the closure, it’s not hard to see the writing on the wall in this era of music streaming and a diminished profile for classical music on the culture scene.” – Ludwig Van Toronto